


Happy Crisum

by ananbeth, blackjacktheboss



Series: Christmas and Chill [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-14 13:12:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16913490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ananbeth/pseuds/ananbeth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacktheboss/pseuds/blackjacktheboss
Summary: It's a year on from Percy and Annabeth's fake dating escapades and we find them getting ready for Christmas 2k18!! Get ready for fluff and family drama and festivities :DGetting a six foot tree into a fifth story apartment was no mean feat, they both bitched the whole way and dumped it on the floor the second they entered the apartment. It took a little while to move after that, but they did. Percy switched the radio in the kitchen onto a channel that had been playing Christmas songs for two weeks already and Annabeth made them both coffee to keep them going.“Where should we start?” she asked, handing him a steaming mug.He kissed her cheek. “Tree?”“We have to rearrange the whole apartment.”“Yay! Fun!”“You’re incorrigible.”Percy blinked at her. “I’m assuming that’s not a nice word.”She smiled sweetly. “You’re also adorable.”“I am, aren’t I? Come on let’s decorate.”





	1. Saturday 8th December 2018

**Author's Note:**

> we're back again! soph suggested we write a follow up i think five minutes after we posted the last chapter of merry chrystler lmao so here we are! this will be another real time update attempt series so wish me luck and strap in for another month of fun :)

Getting a six foot tree into a fifth story apartment was no easy task, they both bitched the whole way and dumped it on the floor the second they entered the apartment. It took a little while to move after that, but they did. Percy switched the radio in the kitchen onto a channel that had been playing Christmas songs for two weeks already and Annabeth made them both coffee to keep them going.

“Where should we start?” she asked, handing him a steaming mug.

He kissed her cheek. “Tree?”

“We have to rearrange the whole apartment.”

“Yay! Fun!”

“You’re incorrigible.”

Percy blinked at her. “I’m assuming that’s not a nice word.”

She smiled sweetly. “You’re also adorable.”

“I am, aren’t I? Come on let’s decorate.”

She groaned at his enthusiasm and he put his coffee down to jostle her around. “Come on, come on, come on.”

“Alright, jesus.”

So they started with the tree, cutting the mesh off and letting it stand obnoxiously in the middle of the room while they dragged their furniture around it and decided on a reasonable arrangement. They bickered back and forth while Judy Garland wished them a merry little Christmas and the rain began to pour in sheets outside the windows.

The lights were a tangled horror show which Annabeth nearly threw down the trash chute before Percy persuaded her out of it and got them working after a minute - or five - of frustrated grunting. Wrapping them around the tree was a joint effort which mostly involved Annabeth directing Percy while she sipped her coffee.

“Happy yet?” he asked her.

“Hm. A little to the left.”

“Fuck off,” he laughed, standing up and lunging at her.

“Wait! My coffee!”

Next came the tinsel and then the baubles - a mixture of cheap Costco ones with family heirlooms and tacky things they’d both bought separately through their college years. It was a strangely wholesome feeling, to see them all collected together, a strange mash of memories - shared and separate - all displayed as one. When they were both happy with it, translate: Annabeth was getting bored and Percy distracted, he lifted her up to place the crappy star on top of the tree.

“It’s wonky.”

“It’s fine, you’re heavy.”

“I am not!”

“You’re not, but I’m tired.”

He dropped her to her feet and she playfully slapped his arm. “Next time I’ll lift you.”

He grinned and held her hips as he nudged his nose gently against hers. “Next year,” he promised, and she felt tingles all over her body.

She grinned, helpless not to. “Next year.”

He kissed her, too long and deep for two people in the middle of a half done job, but she didn’t push him away. She leaned into him and kissed him back and thought about pulling him to the couch and abandoning the decorations, but apparently Percy had some determination left because he broke their kiss and dodged her lips when she tried to resume it.

He laughed at the annoyed noise she made and squeezed her sides.

“We’re not finished yet.”

“No,” she agreed. “We’re not.” She pushing up on her toes.

He grinned. “You’re so cute. Let’s finish up then you can maul me all you like.”

“Ugh.” She shoved him away and picked up some tinsel.

“Thattagirl.”

“I’m gonna strangle you with this tinsel in a minute.”

“Kinky.”

She rolled her eyes, but the smile fought through. Percy grinned at her as he picked up some lights.

They moved around each other easily, finding places for the remaining decorations around the small apartment they had both called home since graduating earlier that year. They’d only been living together officially for six months. But unofficially, they’d called each other’s shared apartments home since they shared that kiss on New Year’s Eve. Annabeth loved living with her friends, but by the time May rolled around, she couldn’t wait to move in with Percy. It felt like they had been building up to it for years, not months. Like everything about their relationship, the next step always felt too far away.

She wasn’t the only one ready for her and Percy to get a place of their own. Their friends had interrupted a few too many private moments for their living arrangement to remain as it was for any longer. Piper, despite her insistence that they get together in the first place, was their biggest complainant. She was mostly teasing, but still, Annabeth was relieved when they could finally have their own place without hearing a chorus of whines when she so much as pecked Percy on the lips.

“Did you book our flights yet?” Annabeth asked as she attempted to make some beads hang artfully from the tv stand.

“Mm.”

“Perce?”

“I thought you were gonna do it?”

“No.”

“Okay, I forgot. I’ll do it now.”

He pulled out his phone and dropped to the couch. She rolled her eyes and joined him, leaning against his side so she could see the screen. She remembered sitting like this, a whole year ago, as she drunkenly persuaded him to join her in San Francisco for Christmas.

Percy looked up the same flights now, but this time they would fly back on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with Percy’s mom and step-dad. She didn’t feel nearly as anxious about flying out to stay with her family this year, but she was still glad Percy was joining her. Matthew was insistent on the phone when he had called her back in August asking her to spend the holidays with them again and to make sure she brought her boyfriend with her.

This time, that word wasn’t a lie.

“It’ll be weird,” she said, voicing her thoughts. “Going as an actual couple.”

Percy laughed. “Rather than a fake one? Shit they think we’ve been together for like, years, still.”

“My dad and Eve do, yeah.”

“But your brothers?”

She liked that, brothers. Not half, just brothers.

“I mean, I’ve never said anything explicitly, but Bobby seems like he figured something out. I don’t know, we’ve not really talked about it.”

“So we’re going in as a couple of...three  years?”

“Mhm. Think we can pull it off?”

He laughed and put an arm around her. “I think so,” he said, kissing the side of her head.

Annabeth tugged his arm around her more and helped him navigate the flight booking on his phone with her other hand. It was unnecessarily complicated but they persisted rather than letting each other go.

“Booked.”

She locked his phone and tossed it behind her as he kissed her and she was pulling him over her and picking up from where they’d left off earlier.

A year ago, Annabeth could never have imagined this. He was nothing more than her friend back then. Her goofy, loyal, best friend. And in the span of a week, he became someone irresistible to her, someone she wanted to be with in so many more ways than before. And now she had him. But the truth was, he was still her goofy best friend among all of the other stuff. Among the sex and the kisses and the domestic fights and the mundane grocery shops. He was still somebody who made her laugh so much her belly hurt and the person she texted about her annoying colleague and the person who she could always, always rely on to be there.

She just really enjoyed that she could kiss him now.

Somewhere, from within the couch it seemed, an alarm was going off.

“Mm, fuck,” Percy muttered as he felt around for it, still on top of her and forgetting to hold his weight.

“Is that your phone? Why do you have an alarm for now?”

He found it and hit the snooze button with his thumb. Then he kissed her again, quickly.

“I have to meet my mom.”

Then he was up and off her and Annabeth was left alone on the couch - which was _not_ where she wanted to be thank you.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, I totally forgot.”

She narrowed her eyes. He was a terrible liar.

He was pulling on his jacket so she stood up and waited as he pulled his shoes on.

“Have fun,” she told him, because she trusted him even if he was being weird. He was probably going to buy her Christmas present or something. “Say hi to your mom for me.”

“I will.”

He held her cheeks and kissed her again, unnecessarily lingering for somebody who was apparently in a hurry. Annabeth leaned up into it, cradling his wrists for a moment before she drew away. He had a dopey look on his face that made her want to kiss him again but she pushed him instead.

“Go meet your mom. I’ll finish up.”

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

“Bye!”

Then he was out the door and Annabeth turned around to see what a state the apartment was in. Fucker.

She ended up abandoning it half way through and making a big pot of pasta to eat half of it while she watched Jeopardy and answered the questions to herself.

Percy got home a few hours later to find her asleep on the couch and was careful to place something in the back of a kitchen cupboard before waking her up to coax her to bed. She curled around his back, happy and sleepy and none the wiser.


	2. Wednesday 19th December 2018

 

Their flight was uneventful but still too long. The both of them all but ran through the terminal, just glad not to be cooped up with a few hundred other people and too little leg space for two people with long limbs. Annabeth managed to nap on Percy’s shoulder for a bit but she knew Percy had been awake for the whole flight as he gripped her fingers tight on the landing and returned her smile very tensely.

Needless to say, Annabeth was extremely relieved to see her younger brother waiting for them at the arrivals.

“Matty’s in the car,” he said in greeting as he opened his arms for a hug.

Annabeth smiled as she wrapped her arms around him.

“Hi Bobby,” she said.

“How was your flight?” he asked, holding her shoulders as he appraised her.

“Oh, it was fine,” she told him. “Percy nearly broke my hand but we survived.”

“Hey, come on,” Percy protested.

He and Bobby hugged, slapping each other’s backs because they were boys but Annabeth smiled at them anyway.

“Let’s go, Matthew is on his fourth circulation of the airport.”

“Holy fuck, you’re driving?” Annabeth said as they made for the exit together.

“Yes we’re adults now.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Percy said.

They found Matthew in their parents car at the curb just outside the exit, which was fortunate and probably not allowed but they all bundled in as fast as they could and sped off like they’d robbed a bank.

“The limit is twenty,” Annabeth said from the backseat, clicking her seatbelt in firmly.

“No backseat driving!” Matthew protested. “It’s nice to see you too.”

“I’ll hug you if we make it to the house in one piece.”

“Yee of little faith.”

Annabeth shared a look with Percy, who was normally a very laid back passenger but looked a little dubious as Matthew pulled onto the highway.

“You’re a little kid,” Annabeth told him. “You shouldn’t be in charge of a vehicle.”

Bobby laughed as he turned in his seat. “We’re going to college next year.”

“No you’re not.”

Percy laughed. “Annabeth, you don’t want them to go to college?”

“I want them to stop not being little kids. I feel old.”

“You are old,” Bobby said with a shit eating grin which grew into laughter when Annabeth smacked his arm.

Matthew interrupted before Bobby could retaliate properly. “So how’s life treating you both? I can’t believe it’s been a whole year.”

“You can come see us anytime,” Annabeth reminded him.

“We’re good,” Percy said, smiling his charming smile. “We managed to survive college, so that’s something.”

“Congrats!” Matthew laughed. “You’re at that internship place, right, Annabeth?”

“It’s the architect firm I interned at during college, yeah. I’m full time now.”

“And Percy?”

“He’s working for an environmental non-profit organisation,” she gloated, all proud. Percy rolled his eyes at her but smiled.

“That’s sick,” Bobby told them both, looking at Percy. “You like it?”

“Yeah it’s more interesting than I thought it would be to be honest. Though I’d rather be working with animals more than people, but it’s a step in the right direction.”

“You don’t like people?”

Percy laughed. “I do, I do. I just have a bit more passion for animals.”

“And patience. People are the worst.”

“No they’re not.”

“That’s not what you said about Daniel last week.”

“Well Daniel is a piece of shit.”

The boys gasped at Percy swearing and they all broke out into laughter.

“You guys ready for the party tonight?” Bobby asked.

“I’m gonna need a nap before that happens,” Annabeth said.

Percy squeezed her knee. “Yes please.”

She grinned and took his hand. Percy loved napping together and just cuddling together, without the pretext of sex. He loved sex too, of course, but he was a physically affectionate person and just couldn’t say no to an opportunity to lay in bed together with her. Annabeth was far from complaining. Her neediness for such affection had not diminished in the year they’d been dating and she’d come to expect it as a part of her day now.

“Mom should allow that,” Matthew said. “But be warned she’s kinda been in overdrive for the past week planning this thing. She busted a nut when uncle Douglas asked her to plan it for him.”

“Can’t wait,” Annabeth said, suddenly feeling a little swoop in her belly.

Percy squeezed her hand and she tried to shake the feeling off as she returned his smile. She and her step-mom had made good ground last year, she wasn’t the little kid who felt resented anymore. Plus, she had Percy to help buffer things, and no added complication of a fake dating arrangement. They were together now and didn’t have to fake anything.

Though if Annabeth remembers correctly, what happened the year before didn’t feel much like faking.

The house was beautifully decorated on a far grander scale than Percy and Annabeth's little apartment back in New York. Annabeth couldn’t help but stare around in awe as Bobby and Matthew carted their bags upstairs for them and left them in the large reception space.

Eve arrived a moment later and gave them both awkward hugs. She looked genuine in her welcome if not a little harried.

“How are you?” Annabeth asked.

She sighed as she spoke. “Oh I’m good, fine. Everything is under control.”

“Okay. Um, well if there’s anything we can help with just let us know.”

“Thank you, love. Why don’t you two get settled in and I might take you up on that offer in a little while. I’m going to head back over to the house in an hour or so.”

“Sure thing.”

“Your father is in his study,” Eve said in parting, turning back towards the kitchen. “Just pop your head in on your way up.”

Percy raised his eyebrows at Annabeth and she blew out a breath between her lips, making a pfffbt noise.

“Doing okay?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Dunno why I’m so on edge.”

Percy rubbed her back as she leaned against him. “Instinct, probably? Let’s just take a day at a time, yeah.”

She pulled back. His expression was soft and concerned. She smiled and touched his cheek.

“Okay.”

Her dad was nose deep in papers but did actually get up from his desk to hug her and shake Percy’s hand when they knocked on his study door.

They collapsed onto Annabeth's bed a few moments later and Annabeth experienced a strange flashback to their arrival a year ago. A frantic search through their social media had informed them just how coupley they appeared to the outside world. It was funny, if Annabeth looked back through her instagram now, there was no clear shift from when they had started dating. Percy was still smattered around like blown leaves, just as he had been before.

Percy tugged her against him on top of the covers and she laughed at him as he buried his face in the pillow next to her neck.

“I don’t wanna move ever,” he mumbled.

“Ever ever?” she asked, teasing her fingers over his shoulder and rubbing the tight muscles there. “Not even for food?”

“Eh.”

“Or sex?”

“Mm...maybe.”

She laughed. “Glad I can get a maybe.”

He leaned into her more and mumbled something ineligible against her neck. It tickled so she scrunched her shoulder up which made him groan in protest and her laugh more.

“Stop,” she told him.

“You stop.”

He squeezed her round the middle and she relaxed into him, savouring a few moments of stolen peace to sustain her through the rest of the day. Her uncle's last party had been a disaster, she hoped this one would go a lot smoother.

* * *

 

The house was as audaciously decorated as Annabeth remembered from last year. It had been brought forward this year. Annabeth didn’t know whether to feel glad or not that they wouldn’t be missing it as a result. She mostly decided to suck it up, but a lingering part of her was extremely wary about how all of this was making Percy feel.

He must have noticed her hesitation because he pulled her aside after politely refusing a tray of fish based canopies and frowned at her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Annabeth sighed. “Sorry, nothing.”

He raised his eyebrows in a, _you shitting me?_ sort of way and reached out to cross their fingers together. Annabeth looked at him and smiled a small, grateful smile.

“I don’t want these people to make you feel like shit again.”

“Hey. That was 2017 Percy. I’m a whole different man.”

She snorted a laugh and he tilted his head, pleased, as he smiled at her.

“Seriously,” he told her. “We’ve been through this. I only care about what you think of me. And if I’m good enough for you, fuck everyone else.”

“You’re a dork.”

“How romantic was that though?”

She squeezed his fingers. “Very. And you’re more than good enough for me.”

His smile was sunshine. “Good. Now how many Republicans do you think there are in this room? Should I start asking people about social reform just to get them going?”

Annabeth laughed and nudged him in the ribs as they re-joined the party, circulating the floor arm in arm like seasoned experts.

Almost an hour later, Annabeth was famished and her cheeks hurt from trying to hide her laughter as she and Percy exchanged snobby comments about their fellow party-goers. She knows they had caught her step-mother’s attention a few times and she tried to feel guilty about that but ultimately failed. They weren’t showboating or being outrightly rude to people. Percy refrained from talking to anyone about Politics and Annabeth managed to remember most people’s names. They just spent a lot of time giggling to each other like little kids and exchanging significant looks behind people’s backs.

They found themselves talking to one of Frederick’s colleagues and his jewellery-clad wife, Eleanor. Light seemed to blink off her at every angle as she flicked her hands around while she spoke, seemingly conscious that people’s attention would be drawn to the rings on her fingers and the Cartier watch on her bracelet. She spoke for her husband and Annabeth was politely amused by her. She was outwardly inoffensive, but probably voted for Trump.

“So Annabeth,” she said, quite seriously, leaning in to touch her arm. “This is the same Percy you brought with you last year, isn’t it?”

“Um. Yes, it is.”

“Oh how sweet, and I think I remember you telling me you had been together for two years?”

She definitely hadn’t told her this information directly, but she supposed information had it’s way of getting around and Eleanor had a way of making that information sound like it was her own. Annabeth shared a look with Percy, bracing for some lying.

“Yes,” Percy answered.

She was still holding onto Annabeth’s left arm and squeezed it excitedly at this information. “So that’s three years now! How sweet.”

“Mhm.”

“Now, I’m not one to pry,” she went on and Annabeth had to bite down a smile. “But this hand is awfully bare.”

She slid her hand down to Annabeth’s twisted it back and forth, as if to display this fact.

“Oh. Um.”

Annabeth was genuinely flummoxed. She remembered hiding in a bathroom with Percy a year ago as they prepared themselves for such questions, but she felt woefully unprepared now that the question had actually been presented to them and their relationship was no longer a pretense. One glance at Percy told her he was useless to herer.

“We’ve only just finished college, so. You know.”

“I mean we’ve talked about it a little but we’re young,” Percy said. He cleared his throat. “We’ve got time for all that.”

He smiled at Annabeth, seemingly recovered from his little panic and she raised her eyebrows as she smiled back.

“Exactly,” she said, a little delayed.

“Besides,” Percy said, reaching for Annabeth’s hand as Eleanor released it. “Maybe I’m waiting on Annabeth. I’m a feminist after all.”

Annabeth didn’t even have time to savour Eleanor’s face as the bell rang out for dinner and they were all asked to take their seats.

“You’re pushing your luck,” Annabeth said into Percy’s ear as they sat down in their allocated places.

“Just a bit of fun,” he told her. “Besides, maybe I am waiting.”

She rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

They got similar comments about Annabeth’s naked hand during dinner, from her overtly traditional cousin, her baby sitter, and her deaf aunt, who clearly hadn’t heard the first two conversations as she asked Percy loudly from the across the table if he planned to ask for the family ring.

Annabeth wanted the floor to open up and swallow them by then. Percy, who was not usually flummoxed by such intrusive questions, was getting twitchy by the time they were served dessert. Annabeth wanted to reassure him, but it was difficult to do with so many people around and keenly listening in on any conversation they had.

When their desserts were being cleared, she leaned over to check in with him.

“You okay?” she asked lightly.

“Hm? I’m fine, everything’s cool.”

Which meant it wasn’t, but she wouldn’t get anything else out of him in this setting. She resolved to ask him more when they got back to her parents, but the rest of the night flowed in somewhat of a whirlwind of more drinks and somehow another food course and then goodbyes to people she didn’t really know.

Then Annabeth fell asleep against his shoulder on the way home, feeling her tiredness catch up to her in full force. Percy led her inside and she collapsed onto the bed, satisfied to fall asleep like that until he prodded her until she agreed to change out of her dress at least.

By the time the thought crossed her mind again she was curled up against a sleeping Percy’s side and her brain hardly registered the thought before she slipped into sleep too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed!! the next chapters will come a bit sooner as christmas fast approaches :) just an FYI, this story is shorter than the first, but sill chockablock full of fluff. also, i apologise for the tense switch from present tense in merry crystler to past tense in this one, i've just been used to writing in past tense and completely forgot!
> 
> one last note just to say thank you so much for all your kudos and comments!!! it's been so nice to get so much great feedback for this story and it only fuels us more so keep it coming :))) the next few days are gonna be manic so wish me luck to get the next chapters written in time!!


	3. Friday 21st December 2018

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well it's the next day where i am, but it's still friday in Soph's timeline so i'm saying it counts! sorry i's so late, this week has been full on and i was out later than expected this evening so i've written the rest of this chapter while hanging onto consciousness lol
> 
> hope u enjoy folks <3

On Friday, they were up earlier than god intended and the sky is still dark outside. Such sentiments were muttered multiple times by both of Annabeth’s brothers as they shuffled around in their pyjamas and lugged their bags to the car and fell asleep within minutes of setting off. 

Percy was gone not long after, drooling on Annabeth’s shoulder and snoring lightly while Annabeth watched the city streets turn into highway into snowy forest outside the car window. They got stuck in traffic, because they always got stuck in traffic, and the boys all woke up with an hour left of their journey to play the alphabet game until they reached the cabin, yawning and groaning and racing for the bathroom. 

As Annabeth shoved her little brother into a pile of snow, she enjoyed the fact that this was a familiar experience. Not only one she had been through before but would go through again, in years to come. She liked that this was a family tradition she wanted to be part of and savour memories from, rather than dread or regret or feel strangely alien to. It was nice. 

“This place is bigger than last years,” she commented as she joined everyone in the living room a little while later. 

Bobby laughed as Annabeth took a seat on the arm of Percy’s chair. 

“It’s a chalet, Annabeth.”

“It’s a castle,” she returned. 

Percy’s arm came around her hips and jostled her. “When are we hitting the slopes?” he asked. 

“Well you all got to sleep,” Annabeth said through a yawn. “I’m exhausted, I’m gonna fall asleep in a chair lift.”

“Or halfway down a slope,” Bobby said. 

Matthew laughed. “Imagine you face planting cause you fall asleep.”

“You’re both horrible. Why would you want that to happen to your sister, who you love?”

“Because it’s funny.”

“I hate you all.”

“Hey!” Percy complained. “I did nothing wrong.”

She hooked her arm around his shoulders and smiled at him. “I know. This is why I love you.”

He smiled, easily pleased and Annabeth pressed her own smile to his cheek. Because she couldn’t not when he looked at her like that. All cute with a dimple in his left cheek and a brightness in his eyes that shone like happiness in its purest form. He looked so cute, in fact, that she leaned in to kiss him for real. The boys groaned and one of them threw a cushion at them and Annabeth laughed as she broke the kiss. 

She was happy. 

Her step-mother came breezing through then. 

“Alright kids, lets go or we’ll miss the daylight.”

So they put on their layers and boots and braved the cold. Annabeth didn’t fall asleep or face plant, but she did fall on her ass a few times, a fact which Percy teased her for pretty mercilessly. 

“Fuck off. I’m rusty.”

“No shit.”

She shoved him into a snow drift. 

Annabeth joined her dad and step-mom when they retired early, feeling like she might just fall off a chair lift soon if she didn’t call it a day. Percy volunteered to go with her and she told him he was sweet while the boys cooed in the background and she left them all in the queue for the next lift up. Then she found hers and Percy’s room in the enormous chalet and fell into bed to catch some sleep. 

An hour and a half later, feeling a lot more rested, she trudged downstairs to find a very weird site in front of her. 

Percy stood with his arms out from his sides, giddy expression on his face, as Bobby and Matthew wrapped Christmas lights around his torso. 

“Erm. What?” 

They all looked up at her and the twins exchanged a look before bolting from the room. 

“Cowards!” Percy yelled after them. 

He looked back at Annabeth and dropped his arms to his side, making a specifically strange noise as the lights clacked against each other. Annabeth appraised him. His legs were effectively stuck together, with lights winding around him from ankle to hip. Another set of lights had been dedicated to his torso, tangling through his belt loops and hanging over his shoulders. They were all plugged in and lit up, leaving him looking like an Art Deco Christmas Tree. 

It could be in the MOMA under the title, The Modern Christmas. 

Annabeth met her boyfriends eyes. 

“Why?” she asked him. 

He shrugged. “I don’t know. You were napping and we were bored.”

She rolled her eyes. “Boys. There’s a TV you know.”

“TV is whatever.” He fidgeted and Annabeth tilted her head. 

“Those lights getting hot yet?” 

“Oh yeah. Especially the ones near my crotch.”

Annabeth laughed and walked over to him, close enough that the heat of the bulbs pressed through her clothes. “Well that’s rude of them. It’s my job to get you hot and bothered.”

Percy leaned in close, tilting his head as their noses brushed together, setting a spark like the dozens of filaments between their bodies. She bumped his nose as she tilted her chin up and watched his smile turn dopey and soft. Then she backed away and watched as his lips turned into a pout. 

“Hey, come back.”

She smirked and picked up a bow from the same box she presumed the lights had been taken. 

“Where’d you find these anyway?”

“Cupboard under the stairs. They had spares, I guess.”

“Hm.” She walked over to him and peeled the label off the sticky backing of the bow, then she pressed it against his forehead until it stuck there. “Why do my brothers think I’m so boring?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think you’re boring.”

“Thanks.”

“Mhm. Wanna go on a date tonight?”

“A hot date? With Percy Jackson? How could I say no?”

“I’m hoping you won’t.”

“Where were you thinking?”

“That bar we went to last year?”

She raised her eyebrows. “That’s not a date, that’s an excuse to grope me to music.”

“Are you against that?”

“Obviously not but I thought you were gonna romance me.”

He shrugged. “I did that already?”

“Oh did you? I just have missed that.”

“You’re a bad liar.”

“I’m the best liar.”

He managed to get hold of her hips and pull her against him. He still had the bow on his head, which just made her smile fondly at him as she tried to frown instead. 

“Please go on a date with me so you can feel me up in a bar and we can get drunk like we’re still students.”

“Hm.” She plucked the bow off his head and let it dangle from her fingers as she cupped the back of his neck in her hands. “Okay. That would be nice.”

He kissed her. “Yes it would. Now please help me out of this and before you say no please remember how much you love me and how much I will complain otherwise.”

“Alright, ya baby.”

* * *

 

They didn’t wear their Christmas sweaters this time. They wore regular sweaters and grabbed dinner with Annabeth’s family again before breaking off to find their bar. Annabeth remembered it being hot and crowded, but she’d forgotten how those two things had felt. She hadn’t been to a college party for a while, particularly not a sweaty dance one, and it was a slight shock to the system to be faced with so many drunk strangers in a confined space. 

“I need a drink!” she yelled as they hung their coats. 

“No shit.”

Percy grabbed her hand as they made their way to the bar and she experienced a distinct feeling of deja vu as she was pressed against his chest while he tried to get the attention of the bar staff. 

He looked good. With his hair pushed back and his cheeks flushed and his smile all happy, just for her. She remembered last year, feeling so desperate to stay close to him, to not break the tenuous strands holding them together. Thinking back, things seemed so precarious last year. Unknown and fragile. She’d been so terrified of losing her best friend, of ruining things. But equally fearful of losing the new feelings she was just beginning to understand and get used to.

A year later and she was still getting used to being wanted by him so much, so openly and unapologetically. Really, Annabeth was still learning how to let people love her, but Percy had shown her, time and time again, over the past year that he wasn’t about to leave her. If he told her he would still be here in ten, twenty, eighty years time, she would believe him. The doubt might take a shot at her surety, but she wouldn’t waver.

“You look good,” she told him, after he finished ordering their drinks.

He looked at her, eyes searching her face as a small, shy smile grew. He kissed her forehead. “Not as good as you.”

“Nah, you’re a hottie. Everyone is looking at you.” She tugged him around the waist and grinned.

“Stop.”

“Nope.”

He rolled his eyes, smiling all the same. “Save it for the dancefloor.”

“Oh you want me to woo you out there?”

“Yes please. Tell me I’m pretty.”

She reached up to push his hair back. Some of it had fallen across his forehead. “You’re very pretty.”

He grinned. 

She did grope him, and she reached on to her toes to whisper in his ear that he was the hottest date she’d ever been on. And Percy blushed and held her closer and Annabeth couldn’t believe this wasn’t just something she always had. The night grew soft and sweet like taffy, not with reality pressed into the corner of the room this time. It was all out in the open.

By the time they caught the last bus back to the cabin, it was much later and they were several drinks drunker. They fell asleep on each other and had to be yelled at by the driver to get off the bus. Their walk back to the cabin filled their shoes with snow and allowed the cold to seep into Annabeth’s bones, so much that she was sure she wouldn’t be warm ever again.

“Holy fuck, my toes are gonna fall off,” she told him as they finally made it to the cabin. He fumbled with the keys and she clung to his back, not helping while he struggled. “Will you still love me when my toes fall off from hypothermia?”

“Yes. I’ll love you and your toeless feet.”

“I’d lose my balance. Your big toe is your balancer.”

He opened the door and they piled inside. “Seems like you’ve already lost it,” he teased, poking her side.

“Get off,” she complained.

They dragged their jackets and boots and socks off to leave drying in the foyer, trying to be quiet and probably failing. 

“Where’s our room?” she muttered. “It’s still a three day hike.”

Percy grabbed her around the shoulders and walked them towards the staircase, thumping their feet on the wooden floorboards. “Just up some stairs.”

“All the stairs. Dunno why we had to go to such a huge place this year, last years was fine wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. This is nice too though.”

And really, she knew their voices were closer to full volume than whispers, but she honestly hadn’t intended to wake her family. So when Eve appeared in the hallway on the first landing, Annabeth nearly jumped out of her skin, bumping back into Percy as she gasped.

“Eve. Sorry, we didn’t mean to-”

“It’s three o’clock in the morning, Annabeth.”

And it was so strange, how one line spoken in that sharp voice could send annabeth reeling back years. Shame welled in her stomach like cement, weighing her down immediately.

“I’m sorry.”

Eve’s arms were crossed tightly, pinching her dressing gown in around her small body. It was never the size of her that made Annabeth feel small, it was her words, her tone.

“I was hoping to have a nice holiday with you both here, but it seems like you don’t want the same thing.”

“Erm, Mrs Chase,” Percy interrupted while Annabeth’s heart thumped heavily. She could feel each push of the muscle in her chest. “It was my fault we came back so late, I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you, or to make you feel like we’re not grateful for your welcome. I have no concept of volume when I’ve had a drink.”

Annabeth watched her step-mother’s features soften as Percy spoke. She had directed her words at Annabeth and now that Percy had stepped in, she couldn’t quite keep up the same level of stern disapproval. She sighed.

“Why don’t you two get to bed.” It was not a question. “It’s very late and you must be tired.”

Percy held Annabeth’s hand as they shuffled past Eve and up the stairs to their room. It wasn’t until the door was shut behind them that Annabeth had really processed what happened. Percy had taken the fall for her. He’d forced Eve’s hand and taken the pressure off Annabeth, he’d stood in the way and taken the fall and Annabeth was struggling to catch up with this fact because it had never ever happened before. Her step-brothers had always been too young and her father had just been absent or submissive or apathetic. He had never, ever stood up for her, he had never fought for her or taken her side or stood in the way.

Nobody had.

Until Percy.

Annabeth walked to him and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly, pressing her cold nose against his neck and just breathing, breathing deep as the tightness in her stomach unknotted and she started to feel lighter again.

Finally, finally, she had someone in her corner. Not split between her and her siblings or trying to be impartial and objective. Somebody who unequivocally would have her back. 

Percy rubbed her back and didn't say a word, like he knew. Like he knew she just needed to hold him and be held for a moment while she processed. She wasn’t sure he understood the significance of what had just happened, but that was okay, he didn’t need to.

“I’m keeping you now, for sure,” she mumbled into the collar of his sweater.

“Hm?” He swayed them back and forth.

“I was a little iffy before,” she told him. “But now it’s a definite yes.”

He drew back and she did too and she was smiling now, feeling softer and calmer. He returned her smile.

“I’m very glad to hear that.”

“Let’s go to bed.”

“I’m glad to hear that too.”


	4. Sunday 23rd December 2018

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is still the 23rd in my time zone for two and a half more hours so I am posting on Hannah's behalf as she drifts back into her REM cycle. If anything looks messed up formatting wise please chalk it up to me collapsing under the pressure of not letting down my bff lmao anyways hope y'all enjoy this chapter (which, in my humble opinion, is a banger)

**Sunday 23rd December 2018**

They had worked up on the Saturday feeling groggy while Bobby hammered on their door to get up so they could hit the slopes. The day had then passed uneventfully. Annabeth had bumped into Eve outside the bathroom and mumbled an apology for the night before and Eve has nodded and told her it was okay and Annabeth hadn’t been sure if it was, but she managed to put it out of her mind for the rest of the day. 

Sunday was their last day as they would drive back before the sun rose tomorrow for Percy and Annabeth to catch their flight back to New York. And for the most part, it was as uneventful as the day before. They got up, ate breakfast, skied, had lunch, skied again, and headed back to the cabin to warm up in front of the fire. 

“We should play that newly weds game again,” Matthew suggested with his head hanging over the arm of the chair he slouched in. 

“Are you ready to lose miserably again?” Annabeth asked. 

“Oh yeah you guys were unbearable last year,” Bobby said. “You’d be so much worse this time around.”

Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look. “Why’s that?” he asked. 

Bobby gave them a long look, raising his eyebrows. 

“Cause you’ve been together another year, course.”

“Right.”

“Course.”

“Of course.”

“Okay I’m bored,” Matty interjected. “Who wants to build a snowman.”

“I’m in,” Percy said, jumping up and shifting Annabeth from her comfortable position in the process. 

“Hey,” she complained. 

He leaned down to kiss her. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not. Go play.”

“You’re not coming?”

“Nah. I just got the feeling back in my toes, I’m gonna keep it that way.”

“Alright.”

They all wrapped up in their layers to pile outside into the snow and Annabeth smiled to herself. She heard their antics outside the window as they started up a snowball fight. She picked herself up from the couch and gathered their empty coffee mugs to take into the kitchen where her dad and step-mom were. 

Her dad was doing a crossword at the table while Eve washed potatoes for dinner. Annabeth placed the mugs next to the sink. 

“Anything I can help with?” she asked. 

Eve glanced at her. “No thank you. Just relax.”

“Okay.”

The air felt stilted and awkward and Annabeth wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination as she earned back against the counter. 

“Well the boys have gone outside, so.”

Eve nodded. Her dad was oblivious. Annabeth sighed, resigning herself to the situation.

“I never said, um, you did a great job organising that party,” she told Eve, haltingly. 

“Thank you, Annabeth. I didn’t think you enjoyed it.”

Annabeth felt herself go stiff. 

“Uh. What makes you say that?”

Eve didn’t look at her. She sniffed. “It was just the impression I got.”

Annabeth’s uneasiness shifted into annoyance. “I’m sorry did I offend you?  Was I not behaving properly?”

“Annabeth, you knew exactly what you were doing.”

“And what’s that?”

She finally looked at her. “Undermining me. At every move. Laughing at everybody you spoke to, mocking people like you’re better than them.”

“That’s not what I think!”

“Oh isn’t it? Isn’t that what you’ve always thought? That you’re better than everyone else in the room. That’s why you don’t belong here, because we’re all silly people who care about silly things.”

“So you think that’s why I hated living here? Because I thought I was better than you? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Then tell me, Annabeth. What is it. What made you hate us so much that you ran away at every opportunity.”

“It was just you I hated!” Horrifically, Annabeth felt tears well up in her eyes as she yelled. “You made me feel miserable here. Unwanted. If anything made me feel like I didn’t belong in this place, it was you.”

Eve looked furious and hurt and Annabeth didn’t care. She turned to her father who watched them with wide eyes. 

“Are you gonna say anything?” she asked him. 

He blinked at her. “I, er, I think this is between you and your mother.”

“She is  _ not _ my mother.”

“You’re a spoilt brat,” Eve says. “I did the best I could.”

“No you didn’t. You think everything was a personal attack. I was making fun of some pompous old jerks, who cares? I wasn’t attacking you! And I was just a kid, why could you never treat me like one?”

“You never appreciate anything I did for you. I would never have been good enough for you because I’m not your mother. I’m not your mother and you resented me for it.”

“I resented you because you treated me like an inconvenience. And you still do.”

Then she turned to her dad. “And  _ you _ . You’ve never taken my side, this is why I’ve never felt a part of this family.  _ This  _ is why I ran away. It’s been years and I don't understand how you still don't get how much you hurt me with this bullshit. I’ve done everything I can to move away from this life because it fucked me up so much. I’m trying okay?” She directed at both of them. ”I’m trying to make up for everything that happened, but I always feel like I’m meeting a brick fucking wall.”

Then she had to leave. She had to because tears started welling in her eyes for real and she didn’t want to let either of them see her cry. So she stormed outside, past the boys where they were constructing a snowman and they definitely heard at least part of that argument but she couldn’t bear to look at any of them so she kept going, into the woods next to the house until the cabin was out of site. Then she found a log and sat down. Then she realised she was in jeans and a sweater which was not enough to ward off the cold, but nothing would  make her go back into that cabin right now. 

A few minutes later, she heard crunching and a voice echoed in the empty woods. 

“You okay?” Percy asked in his gentle voice. 

She sniffed and looked up at him and his concerned face and everything that was stopping her from crying just went away and a sob broke from her throat. 

“I just. I thought I was done with this.”

There was a sigh and some crunching of snow and for a moment, Annabeth braced herself for a telling off. For a reminder of how much her family gave her and how ungrateful she was. So she sat, tensed, as Percy took a seat next to her. Then his jacket was being placed around her shoulders and his arm followed, wrapping her in a warm embrace, a comforting one. And she started to relax, because he would never reprimand her over something like this. 

“What happened?” he asked gently. 

She wiped her sleeve at her nose. “Stupid argument, I don’t even know how it happened. I just.”

She swallowed and hiccuped and Percy pushed her hair back behind her ears. So she took a breath that steadied her and told him. 

“I’ve never felt part of this family because I felt so excluded all the time and I thought it was better now. I thought we could move past all of that but even after all this time I’m still a spare part. I just feel so fucking alone.”

Her throat hurt and her chest hurt and everything hurt because she was crying now, heavily and unattractively while Percy wiped her cheeks and held her. She felt like a child. Like a little kid who just wanted to run away because at least if she ran, she was choosing to not be part of this family. At least that choice wasn’t being made for her. 

Percy gave her a moment, walking his arm around her and letting her cry. And then he eased her chin up. 

“Annabeth,” he told her. “You’re my family. For as long as I live, I’ll make sure you’re never alone, because we’re family, okay? You have a family, no matter what.”

She looked at him with teary eyes and he was nervous about something, but she still grasped onto his words like the lifevest they were, helping her stay afloat. So when he reached into his pocket and looked down at his hands rather than meeting her eyes, she couldn’t understand why. 

And then she looked, and her heart stumbled into double time. And she was still playing catch up when he asked her to be his wife. 

“I know we’re young,” he said, very seriously. “I do. I know we just finished college and we’ve both still got so far to go in our lives and we’re gonna grow and change. But I also know that I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you, regardless of all of that. I know that since the day I met you, I’ve wanted you in my life for as long as I could have you in it. I don’t care whether we get married tomorrow or in five or ten years from now, I just know it will be you. It’s always gonna be you.”

Annabeth was just staring at him, mouth agape and Percy smiled. 

“Annabeth, I’ve loved you since I’ve known you. I can’t imagine you not being on my life so please, please will you marry me?”

“What.”

She felt her nose running so wiped at it again with her sleeve and Percy laughed, pushing her hair back again. He cradled her face in his hands and made sure she was listening. 

“Annabeth, will you marry me?”

She sniffed. “Duh.”

Percy laughed, a surprised  _ hah  _ puffing out of him as she smiled, because of course it was yes. There was no other option here. There was no universe in which she said no to Percy Jackson, to this question. Because he was right, they were family. 

He reminds her that he was holding a box in his hands before and looks at her earnestly as he holds a ring over the end of her finger, still a question. It’s beautiful and delicate. A gold band encrusted with little diamonds all the way round while the stone itself was a blue like the ocean in a hot place. It looked endless and ever changing and beautiful. 

“Oh my god,” she said as she nodded and he slid it into place on her finger. “Holy shit, were engaged.” 

“Yeah, that was kind of the idea.”

“Shut up, smartass.”

He rolled his eyes. “You know I had a whole plan for this.”

“Oh yeah? And what was that?”

He kissed her real quick, like he just couldn’t wait. She grinned at him. 

“At New Years. I was gonna propose during the party, just you and me up on the roof.  It was gonna be a whole thing.”

“And instead we’re in the woods.”

“Instead we’re in the woods.”

She held up her hand. “So you were just carrying this around with you, just in case.”

“Just in case.”

He was smiling at her with his dimpled cheek and his pink nose and her heart couldn’t really contain how much she loved him. It felt silly and overwhelming. But at the same time, she just felt whole. Percy was her lighthouse in a storm and right now she was safely ashore because of him. 

She pulled him in then and kissed him, pressing her new ring against his cheek as she held onto him and pulled him close. She kissed and kissed and kissed him, feeling the weight in her chest lighten and leave altogether. No matter what, she had a family right here. 

And that’s all she really needed. 


	5. Monday 24th December 2018

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiya, thank you for bearing with me my guys!! merry christmas eve (or merry christmas if you're in my time zone) / happy holidays to you all. i hope you all have magical days however you spend them and that this brings a bit of joy to an already lovely day <3
> 
> thanks as always for the support, you guys are the best!! xx

Annabeth woke up feeling dizzy and for a moment, lost as to where she was. This bed wasn’t hers and the room was too warm and when she kicked the sheets off and wiped the sleep from her eyes, the ceiling wasn’t hers either. 

The following groan from her left was the first familiar thing, rooting her back to reality. She slumped against her pillow, relaxing again.

“Morning,” Percy mumbled.

She grinned and rolled over until she was halfway on top of him and he groaned some more.

“Morning,” she said.

He wrapped his arms around her. “Merry Christmas eve, fiancee.”

“Holy shit.”

“What?”

“We’re engaged.”

He laughed at her. “Did you forget?”

She rested her arms on his chest and propped her chin on her hands as she smiled at him. She knew her face was dopey and soft but she couldn’t stop it. She didn’t want to. She wanted him to see how happy he had made her.

“I’m still getting used to it. I have a fiance now. I’m like a real adult now.”

“You’ve been a real adult for ages.”

“I have not, fuck off. I ate mac n cheese for breakfast last week.”

“Yeah, that was gross.”

“Exactly. I’m still an irresponsible child. I’m a little kid.”

He grinned at her and rubbed her back all the way down to the waistband of her pyjamas. “No you’re not,” he said, squeezing her butt. “You’re my grown up fiancee.”

“You like that word.”

“Mhm, I do.”

She could feel the hum of his voice in his chest and felt it down to her toes. His happiness was infectious and spilling over to join her own. She couldn’t believe this was hers. She was lying in a bed that wasn’t her own on a family holiday which was, for so many years, a place of isolation and sleepless nights and feeling so distant from her slumbering family in the rooms around her. But Percy had transformed it for her, as he had done with everything else in her life. He had made it somewhere joyful and safe. He’d made a sad place into a happy one, and if that didn’t sum up their relationship, she didn’t know what did.

“I like it too,” she told him. “And I like you. I like you a lot.”

“I’m glad, cause you just promised to spend the rest of your life with me.”

She laughed. “We haven’t done the vows part yet. I’m still a free lady.”

He tugged her around until they were on their sides, tangled together. “No, you’re betrothed.”

“Big word.”

“I’m a big guy.”

“Oh my god.”

“Sorry, was that me being incorrigible again.”

She laughed. “You’re a dork!”

“A dork you just agreed to marry.”

“I can still back out.”

He kissed her neck. “Please don’t.”

She smiled and pushed his hair back. “I won’t. I’m not ever gonna find a guy like you. You’ve ruined me for anyone else.”

“Good. how’s your hand? Does it hurt?”

She rolled her eyes. “Mhm, it’s so sore from this giant ring.”

He grinned. “So…”

She kissed his chin because that’s where she could reach. “You did good.”

He smiled, all pleased, and she smiled back, leaning in through their morning breaths to kiss him. And she was so warm like this, so full of love as they rolled around in bed, forgetting they had to get up and leave soon. All too soon though, there was a knocking on their door as Bobby or Matty told them groggily that they were leaving in half an hour.

They fooled around for as long as they could get away with and then they rolled out of bed and took turns in the bathroom. Annabeth stared at her ring in the mirror as she brushed her teeth and caught Percy staring at her hand too and grinned at him, pressing a minty kiss to his lips as she passed him over the threshold.

Breakfast was a rush to pour coffee into flasks and stealing toast from the toaster as everyone mumbled greetings and yelled last minute checks of rooms. Then they were piling into the car and back on the road.

It wasn’t as awkward as it could have been considering the bitch fight of an argument that happened yesterday.

Percy and Annabeth had taken a walk after the proposal, sharing his coat and taking their time before going back to the cabin as they tripped over each other’s feet and took turns carrying each other. When they finally made it back to the cabin, the boys and Annabeth’s dad were in the living room and Matthew took only seconds to notice the ring.

“Holy shit!” he’d exclaimed and by the time Eve appeared, they were halfway through retelling the proposal story and a bottle of prosecco was being found from somewhere and all chance of awkwardness had been brushed over. 

Annabeth leaned her head on Percy’s shoulder as Eve sat up front and joined in with car games all the way back into the city. And it was fine, they were fine really. 

They made it back to the house with only enough time to exchange gifts with more cups of coffee steaming between their hands. Her parents got them an expensive looking casserole dish and the boys got them a couple of vintage posters from Annabeth’s favourite store when she was younger. They didn’t have time to open presents from Percy and Annabeth so they left them under the tree to be opened tomorrow and headed off to the airport. Frederick helped them with the bags and offered to drive before either of the boys could offer, so Annabeth figured there was something there but didn’t question it.

She hugged the boys and reminded them to please visit soon and managed a brief hug with Eve before they were out of the door and in the car again. Instead of dropping them off, Frederick drove straight to the short term car park and helped them get the bags out of the car and walked into the airport with them. Annabeth shared a look with Percy and he shrugged back with an amused smile.

Frederick looked shifty and nervous as they checked the departure boards and Percy touched Annabeth’s shoulder.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” he told them, not so casually giving them a bit of space.

She nodded and smiled gratefully, though she was slightly torn between feeling glad and desperately wanting him to stay to absorb some of the inevitable awkwardness. And Frederick took another few moments to steel himself, but he did, eventually, turn to Annabeth. She was waiting with a small smile as he tried to make eye contact. 

“I, erm,” he started. “I just wanted to tell you how happy I am for you, Annabeth.” He looked at her and she could tell how earnest he was so she smiled at him gratefully.

“Thank you,” she said.

“It’s so nice to see you so happy and I, well, I know you have your own life in New York and I wouldn’t want to impose on that at all. So, I… i don’t want you to be offended by this at all…”

She reached out and grabbed his arm gently. “Dad, I’m not gonna be offended? What is it?”

“I would like to pay for the wedding, if that’s okay with you.”

She blinked at him, surprised. She didn’t know what she expected, but this wasn’t it. He sounded so genuine that she couldn’t turn the offer down.

“I don’t think Eve will like that,” she said.

He shook his head. “This is my decision, Annabeth, which for the record, I’m sure she would support. But it wouldn’t matter anyway because you are my only daughter and I want to do this for you. No matter how big or small. Because I love you and I’m happy that you’re happy.”

It’s not an outright apology, but it’s the most expressive and clear statement he has ever made to her. And she felt a strange sense of relief fill her chest because, even if it was just for one shining moment, he was her dad. Not Eve’s meek and permissive husband. Not the busy and absent professor. Just her dad. Her eyes welled up as she watched him smile a timid smile at her. Then she reached her arms around him and hugged him, smiling into his woollen sweater as he cautiously patted her back.

They released each other a few moments later and awkwardly patted down their clothes just in time for Percy to arrive.

“Hey,” he said, sounding slightly cautious like he wasn’t sure whether they were ready to be interrupted yet.

Annabeth reached out and squeezed his arm, smiling to comfort him and letting him take her hand.

“We ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She turned back to her dad. “Merry Christmas, dad.”

“Merry Christmas, Annabeth. Let me know when you land.”

“I will.”

He and Percy shook hands in parting and Annabeth leaned up to kiss his cheek before they parted ways and joined their check in lane. Annabeth looked over her shoulder and watched her dad leave the airport by himself. She smiled and gave Percy’s hand a squeeze. He kissed the side of her head as they waited in line.

“Everything okay?” he asked her.

“Yeah,” she told him. “Everything’s great. Fiance.”

He grinned. “Okay, fiancee.”


	6. Monday 31st December 2018

**Saturday 2nd June 2018**

Percy has really underestimated how much crap they had each collected over the past four years of college. Annabeth has started out with barely anything - he remembered eating his mom’s cookies on her bed and marvelling at all the empty space contrasting Piper’s busy side. She still didn’t like clutter, said it distracted her when she tried to work, but she was also strangely nostalgic so had boxes of movie stubs and receipts and photographs tucked away under her bed. Percy had grown up poor and was a self-aware low key hoarder so he’d collated far too much stuff from his relatively limited belongings as a freshman. 

Still. 

“We’ve got too much shit can we just start over.”

Annabeth laughed at him. “Maybe. I’d miss the bed though.”

“Who needs a bed.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him. 

“We could fuck on the couch,” he offered. 

She shrugged. “You make a valid point.”

The couch was the first thing they’d brought up and it was still dumped at an awkward angle in the living room slash kitchen and surrounded by boxes so wasn’t even accessible right now. They’d had Frank and Jason around at that stage, but their friends had whittled down as they’d rushed to their various commitments and it was now getting dark outside and their bed was still in the truck Charles had loaned them downstairs. 

“Why’d we leave it until last?” Percy lamented. 

Annabeth patted his stomach as she walked by. It was sticking to him with sweat so she probably regretted that soon after. 

“Because you didn’t want to do it.”

He frowned and turned to follow her. “I don’t remember saying that.”

“Yes. You looked at the bed and then looked at me and sighed and I said, why don’t we do the boxes first and you agreed.”

“That sounds like you suggested it.”

“No, you looked at me and sighed.” She was close to him now and looped her arms around his middle to tuck her hands into his back pockets. “I read your thoughts and they said, “Please can we take the boxes first.”

“Hm. What am I saying now then? If you’re so good at mind reading.”

She tipped her chin up and told him, “You’re saying, god my girlfriend is so smart and wise I should always listen to her and not doubt her brilliant memory.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.” She tapped his butt and grinned. 

Percy kissed her, fitting his hands to her jaw and cupping her cheeks and he loved how well they fit there. From day one, this part had been so easy, made so much simple sense. Even before they first kissed, their bodies knew how to fit together better than they did themselves. 

Not everything had been so smooth, but it wouldn’t be life if it had. 

“Let’s get our bed,” he said lowly and still against her warm mouth. 

She sighed and looked up at him. “I wish you were as good as me at reading minds.”

He grinned and tapped her nose and extricated himself. “I am. Right now you’re saying let’s get our bed so you can ravish me in it later.”

She followed him out of the apartment. “I’ve never said the word ravish in my whole life.”

“Well you’ve thought it a lot.”

She pocketed their still single key. “You’re a liar.”

“I’m a truther, actually.”

The bed was Percy’s from his third and fourth year and the mattress was new. His bed frame was a nice classic wooden one they both preferred and the mattress was the only new thing they had bought for the apartment. A worthwhile investment, the salesman had promised them and when they were told to replace it in eight years, it had felt like another commitment altogether. Percy has remembered looking over at Annabeth for any trepidation and seeing only an assured shrug and feeling a buzz settle low in his belly for the rest of the day. 

They got the bed frame up first, having opted to dismantle it for transport and exerting a new string of complaints at the prospect of putting it together again. They followed with the mattress which was propped in the doorway to the bedroom - mostly to discourage them from collapsing onto it straight away. Percy gave it a longing look and Annabeth laughed. 

“Think of how satisfying it will be when we can get into an actual bed.”

“Think of how satisfying it will be to lie on it right now,” he countered. 

“Stop. Go make us coffee or something.”

He groaned and did as she asked, digging the coffee machine and two mugs from the helpfully labelled “kitchen” box - thanks only to Hazel. When he returned, Annabeth had the bed halfway done and tipped her head up when he held out a mug for her. He kissed her waiting lips. 

“You’re a machine,” he told her. 

“Yes I am.”

She had the bed up in another ten minutes and enlisted Percy to unwrap the mattress from its plastic confines. Then came the satisfaction of fitting it neatly into the wooden frame and finally, finally falling onto it. 

“Five minutes,” he urged. “Let’s just take a tiny break.”

To his surprise, Annabeth hummed an “Okay” in agreement and rolled until she was resting her head on his shoulder. 

They had the windows open and a fan going in the other room to try and cool the sticky summer air filling their apartment and now that they had finally stopped, Percy was feeling the effects of it. His shirt was sticking to him in most places which would have made him balk at cuddling but Annabeth was much in the same way and it was also Annabeth. He probably would have rubbed the front of his shirt in her face before they started dating and laughed as she called him all the names under the sun. 

“Everything else can just stay as it is,” she mumbled against his shoulder. “I don’t care anymore.”

He laughed and kissed her hair. “Okay, we’ll just stay like this.”

“Forever. I’m done with moving.”

And god, even sticky with sweat with coffee stains on her shirt and day old mascara smearing just under her eyes, she looked stupid beautiful. He’d thought so the first time he met her, with her stubborn set jaw and eager wide eyes. Her hair had been in the same ponytail it was in today, but longer, still with princess curls bouncing between her shoulder blades. He’d had to push for her to let him help, and she had kept letting him. They pushed and pulled at each other, always finding their way back to the middle one way or another. 

He thought about how much things had changed in the last year. Over the course of a few weeks last Christmas, everything had shifted. His crush which he’d more or less harboured since the first week of their freshman year had swept back in full force and overtaken every part of his judgement. He remembered feeling so torn up and confused about where he stood with her, second questioning and overthinking every small thing, presuming Annabeth’s intimacy was all acted and her feelings all false. The fight they had was almost a reset, strangely comforting in a way that told him things were still the same, underneath it all. He was confident they would find their way back to each other after that, in whatever way it was. The truth was, he just wanted her back at that point. He didn’t mind if he had to squash his feelings down, he just wanted her in his life again. 

But she had wanted him back. 

He kept waiting for the other foot to drop, for a long time. Kept waiting for her to realise she’d made a mistake or changed her mind. But, as his mom had told him scoldingly, that wasn’t fair to either of them. So he was all in, and she was too. And he knew that wasn’t as easy for her. He knew how many times people had up and left her in her life, how difficult it was for her to trust implicitly that he wouldn’t leave too. 

“Did you have second thoughts,” he asked her, after it had been five minutes and they were still lying on the unmade bed. “About moving in with me?”

Annabeth tipped her head up to look at him. “No.”

“Really?”

She twisted his nipples very lightly through his shirt and he squirmed, batting her away. 

“Do you have so little faith in me?” she asked, laughter still in her voice. 

“It’s not that, it’s just.” He took care to find the right words. “I know big stuff like this isn’t easy.”

“You mean because of my abandonment issues.”

He looked at her and she looked at him, smile hinting at her lips. 

“Alright, smartass,” he complained. “I was just checking in with you.”

She put a hand on his cheek. “And I love you for it.” 

Then she shuffled over to look at him properly and he rolled into his side so they were face to face. 

“I’ve always felt sure about you,” she told him. 

He raised his eyebrows. 

“Alright,” she conceded. “There was a blip back there when I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be my  _ boyfriend _ . But I always knew you would be there, ya know? I knew you would be there.”

He couldn’t help the smile on his face and she blushed, lowering her gaze. 

“Shut up.”

“Am I your something permanent?”

“Shut  _ up _ ,” she groaned. 

Percy leaned in and kissed her neck, rolling over her as she laughed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. 

“Annabeth.” He nipped at the skin over her collarbones. 

“Ow. Yes.”

He lifted his head. “Yes what?”

She huffed and tugged at his shoulders but he planted his elbows on either side of her and kept the small gap between them. 

“You’re my something permanent,” she said and he could tell it was supposed to be exasperated but it just came out fond. 

Percy grinned. He kissed her once and looked at her again. She was smiling at him, all soft and happy. 

“Would you marry me?” he asked, joking but not and for a moment he panics and waits for her flinch, for her to have bent too far and snapped. 

But she laughed and pushed his hair back.

“Probably,” she told him. “But not right away.”

He relaxed against her, resting much of his weight on her as he smiled into her cheek. 

“You’d be okay with being engaged for a while.”

“Yeah. Or, I don’t know. It’s gonna be you whenever so I suppose it doesn’t matter. I don’t want kids for ages though.”

“No, I know. I need to learn how to do my taxes before we can have kids.”

She laughed and it tumbled through him pleasantly. “We’ll be eighty then.”

“Fuck off.”

She kissed his cheek and then his mouth. “Just checking, this isn’t you proposing right?”

Percy lifted his head and smiled at her.

“Trust me,” he told her. “You’ll know when it’s the real thing.”

“Tall promises.”

“Well I’m very tall, Annabeth.”

**Monday 31st December 2018**

They were in the elevator up to Piper’s dad’s penthouse apartment when Percy told her. 

“This was supposed to be where I proposed.”

Annabeth turned to him, wide eyed. “What the fuck.”

He smiled and shrugged, tucking his hands in his pockets. “Yep, on the roof.”

She looped her arm around his waist. “You’re so romantic.”

“I am, aren’t I? How’d you get so lucky?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

She was smiling when she kissed him and was still kissing him when the elevator doors opened. A cat call reached them because the elevator opened directly into the apartment which was already crammed full of people. Percy felt his cheeks get hot at the attention and was glad for Annabeth’s arm through his as they slipped into the apartment through the melee of people of whom he recognised only a few. Piper sure knew how to throw a party. 

Their friends were predictably easy to find in the kitchen and let out a chorus of cheers as Percy and Annabeth approached.

“Congratulations!” Leo yelled, holding his beer out to them.

Percy looked at Grover and raised his eyebrows. “Come on, man.”

Grover held his hands up defensively. “They tricked it out of me!”

Charles coughed a laugh. “I said hi to you and you blurted out  _ guess who got engaged _ in response.”

“I’m just so excited.”

“Thank you, Grover,” Annabeth said gracefully.

“I can’t believe I kept it a secret for nothing,” Piper bemoaned as Percy grabbed drinks for him and Annabeth who scoffed at her friend.

“Really? You didn’t tell a soul?”

“Wow, I am hurt.”

Annabeth stood her ground, eyebrows raised at her friend until Piper buckled. “Okay fine, I told Jason. But only cause I knew he wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Jason actually held his hand up. “Um, actually, I told Leo...and Hazel”

“Well, I told nobody,” Hazel said.

Percy hugged her against his side. “You’re the only one I can trust.”

“Um,” Annabeth said, eyebrows raised.

He raised his eyebrows right back. “You’re telling me you didn’t tell anyone other than Piper.”

“I mean...only Frank. He worked it out of me!”

They all looked at Frank who had a halfway to exasperated expression on his face but Percy could still tell he would be willing to take the fall for Annabeth, even though nobody would believe him.

“Anyway,” Jason said. “Congratulations to the happy couple.”

Percy returned to Annabeth’s side as they received another round of cheers and felt a pleased hum go through his chest when she still tipped her chin up for a kiss.

“Ew, stop!” Piper whined, but only jokingly. Annabeth gave her the finger anyway.

They spent the next half hour getting details from Percy and collectively complaining about Annabeth’s step-mom, getting nicely drunk as the apartment unbelievably filled up even more around them. Percy checked his phone a few times, replying as casually as he could to the updates he received.

“Percy,” Piper interrupted a little while later. “Your mom is here.”

He turned to see his mom and step-dad shrugging off their coats and surveying the room. Annabeth made it to them first, hugging Sally tightly and Percy was glad all over again at how well they got along. After they got together, Percy’s mom gave him the most,  _ I told you so _ look he’d ever received in his life and he knew everything would be alright really, from then on. 

“Let me see it,” he heard his mom asking as he caught up to them.

“Mom, you helped pick it out,” he protested.

She looked up from Annabeth’s hand to grin at him. “I haven’t seen it on though. Oh, it’s perfect sweetheart.” She hugged him and kissed his cheek and he felt like a kid again.

His hug with Paul was more reserved but still genuine and he was mostly distracted by how in awe Paul looked of the apartment. 

He leaned in close to Percy and whispered, “I think I saw Ryan Reynolds on my way in here.”

Percy blew out a breath. “You know, it’s entirely possible.” He slapped a hand to Paul’s shoulder. “Let’s get you both drinks.”

He was standing next to his mom when he received Bobby’s delayed text and looked up, too late, to see he and his twin jumping on Annabeth from the other side of the room. They were loud enough to draw attention from other party guests and Percy had to reassure Charles and Jason that those were Annabeth’s brothers and not two random boys attempting to tackle her to the floor. Percy let them have their space and watched with a smile on his own face as Annabeth wiped under her eyes as she stared at them both in shock.

“You’re so in love with that girl I can barely stand it,” his mom said, close by.

He looked at her. “Yes you can.”

She smiled. “She makes you so happy, doesn’t she?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

She gave him another fond smile before looking back over to the Chase reunion and her face dropped a little.

“Ah, there they are.”

Percy followed her gaze as Annabeth’s parents shuffled into her view. Percy had to stop himself from going over as he watched her expression falter. He was torn between wanting to give her moral support and knowing they needed space to have this conversation. So instead he watched carefully as they had a quiet, stilted conversation which, thankfully, didn’t escalate to tears or screaming. Eve grasped Annabeth’s arm, holding back from a hug and Annabeth’s dad handed over something small and nice enough to earn an actual hug, like the one Annabeth had given him at the airport.

“You know,” Percy’s mom murmured next to him. “If I were a more aggressive person, I would definitely kick that man in the balls.”

Percy choked out a laugh.  _ “Mom!” _

“That woman too.”

He laughed. “Am I gonna have to hold you back?”

She smirked at him, obviously pleased to have made him laugh. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

“Of course I have.”

She nodded. “Well, I’m glad they’re trying to fix things. It’s the least she deserves.”

“I know. I guess we can save our ass kicking for another time.”

“Oh yes.” They clinked their drinks together and smiled conspiratorially.

The twins appeared then, demanding Percy’s attention which he was glad to give. Though he had only seen them a few days ago and had been communicating with them since to arrange their appearance tonight, he had still missed them. They were good kids, and a healthy foundation for Annabeth to rebuild her family ties on. Percy appreciated them endlessly. He introduced them to his mom and Paul and those of his friends who were nearby. They fell seamlessly into conversation with Frank and Charles about a hockey team and Percy knew there would be no trouble this evening. It made him feel oddly proud to see them fit in so well, despite them not even being his family.

Although, they soon would be.

He looked back across the room but Annabeth and her parents were nowhere to be seen. A nudge came to his ribs a moment later and Grover was next to him.

“Think I saw her go to the roof,” he said quietly.

“Thanks, man.”

He nodded and took Percy’s drink for him. On his way up in the elevator, Percy checked his watch and saw with slight shock that it was nearly midnight. They were about to ring in the New Year and he wanted nothing more, really, than to be with Annabeth.

The door was wedged open so he left it that way and followed the rows of fairy lights to the edge of the roof where a lone figure leaned against the wall. Her hair lifted and tangled in the wind. Princess curls, he had called them when he first saw her. He leaned his elbows over the edge of the wall next to her and took in the expanse of lights before them.

“Sorry I proposed to you in some woods instead of here.”

Annabeth laughed and it was a bit wet. Percy’s heart cracked a little and he turned to her. She gave him a small smile.

“It was perfect. I don’t care where it was.”

He wrapped an arm around her. “This would have been pretty cool though, huh?”

He felt her nod against him and held her closer as the cold wind whipped around them both. 

“Thanks for getting them to come,” Annabeth said a moment later.

“Was it the right move.”

“It was.”

“What did they say? Eve and your dad?”

Annabeth sighed heavily. “She apologised. And it, it felt real, ya know? She told me how she felt uncomfortable raising me because she didn’t want to replace my real mom but her making me feel so excluded was never intentional.”

“What did you say?”

“I…” She sniffed and Percy rubbed her arm comfortingly. “I said okay. I mean, I didn’t forgive her I guess. But I’m glad she said it. It was, I don’t know…validating, to hear that. I guess.”

He kissed the side of her head. “I’m proud of you.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Maybe we can actually get somewhere now,” she murmured.

“I think you can. If that’s what you want.”

“It is.” 

And perhaps she needed to hear herself say those words out loud because she let out the heaviest breath, like a deeper weight was being released and let go. Then she turned in the circle of Percy’s arm and pulled something from her pocket, holding it in her palm. It was a ring, too large for her or even him. It was a wide band with letters shaping the metal and set with a large blue stone.

“It’s my dad’s college ring,” Annabeth explained. “He told me he should have given it to me when I graduated high school.”

“That’s sweet of him,” Percy said lightly.

“Yeah.”

She curled her fingers around it and slipped it back into her pocket, safe, to be held onto and cherished as the gift it was. Percy smiled.

Annabeth linked their fingers together and lifted his hand so they could watch the second hand of his watch tick, tick, tick closer to midnight. Fireworks started up when they had thirty seconds to go. Voices boomed from the floor below when they reached twenty. Annabeth looked up at him at ten seconds and squeezed his fingers.

“No matter what,” she told him. “You’re my forever family. It’s you and me.”

He smiled, feeling so whole and full and  _ right _ , just then. Like nothing in the whole world could top this feeling. Like his whole life had been leading up to it; every action and thought and feeling. Every person he had met and place he had been had shaped him into this person, on this roof, holding the hands of the love of his life. He was grateful for all of it, wouldn’t change even a second.

Because this was it, really. This was what it was all about. Feeling loved and scared and hopeful and so, so ready to start the next part of his life.

So he listened to the seconds count down and felt Annabeth’s breath on his cold lips and told her, “It’s you and me.”

They kissed to a chorus of light and sound, but all he felt was her.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok let's try this again lol I had to delete my first attempt at posting this chapter, no one make it weird 
> 
> anyways, thank you thank you thank you for another year of this wonderful au! that anyone else was excited to see it back completely floored the two of us and made us so happy that we went through with doing it. Y'all are the real MVPs and your continued support means so much to us <3 Hope you enjoy this last installment and that you all have a Happy New Year! Cheers! xx 
> 
> also please go tell Hannah what a marvelous job she did on this second go-round. She continues to me a maestro with words and it is an honor and a pleasure to be a part of her process. We're not worthy! <3333 -Sophii


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